DEBUSSY (Claude). Born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. 1862-1918. French composer. L.A.S. "Claude Debussy" to Charles Levadé [French composer, 1869-1948]. Bichain, by Villeneuve-la-Guyard, 4 September 1903. 4 pages in-12. Writing paper (58 rue Cardinet). EXCEPTIONAL LETTER IN WHICH CLAUDE DEBUSSY EXHIBITS TO HIS FRIEND ALL THE SUBTLETIES IN THE ART OF ORCHESTRATION: ...I would not like to write you "the history of the art of orchestration through the centuries" (...), I have no taste for that. In short, the art of orchestration is perhaps better learned by listening to the sound of leaves stirred by breezes, than by consulting treatises in which the instruments look like anatomical pieces and which, moreover, provide little information on the countless ways of mixing these instruments together!... What you are asking me about tablature is extremely delicate. Who can assure you that this tablature will be exactly what you need? (...), believe me, don't get bogged down in a system or formula beforehand... by the tenth bar you won't know what to do with it (...). Above all, remember that brass instruments are infinitely delicate and not instruments of carnage! Only at the very end should a trombone scream... Look at Wagner, and you'll see how he is a victim of his own process: despite a quartet of tubas and trumpets of all kinds, it doesn't manage to be any richer... And despite Berlioz, Charpentier, Ganne and Puccini, don't think that the triangle is a sentimental instrument! Don't envy me too much, because no one will ever know how different my music is from the opinion people have of it. If I weren't a little disdainful, I might suffer when I see that I'm being specialised so as to prevent the action I would have liked to exert on the music. Besides, it doesn't matter, and it doesn't stop me from saying that the time of the 'Flea Game' was charming... I still remember it... Debussy met the composer Charles Levadé (1869-1948) in his youth, when they both frequented the Cabaret du Chat Noir and the Auberge du Clou. In 1892 they were witnesses at the wedding of their mutual friend Vital Hocquet. In a letter dated 4 September (the day before), but this time from Levadé to Debussy, Levadé signs "Ton vieux compagnon du noble jeu de puces!", in memory of their youth... Claude Debussy, Correspondance, established by François Lesure and Denis Herlin. Gallimard, 2005: No. 1903-89, p. 775.